Cervix cancer affects women of all ages and causes significant morbidity and mortality. Locally advanced disease is curable with radiotherapy (RT) in about 50% of patients, although often at the expense of serious side effects. In order to improve the therapeutic ratio of tumour control versus normal tissue toxicity, conformal intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) is being investigated. However, inter- and intra-fractional motion of cervix cancer can contribute to both geographical miss of the target and overdosing of surrounding normal tissues, particularly in the setting of conformal IMRT with steep dose gradients. Defining the target volume accurately and understanding the dose consequence of these complex intra-pelvic organ dynamics during external beam radiotherapy forms the essential foundations for future treatment optimization and adaptation. This in turn will lead to improvements in tumour control and disease-free survival while minimising treatment toxicity.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/25765 |
| Date | 10 January 2011 |
| Creators | Lim, Karen |
| Contributors | Milosevic, Michael, Fyles, Anthony |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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